Operation Featherweight: Month 34, Week 2, Day 7.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are currently coming under immense pressure in two main areas; The city of Mosul in northern Iraq and the town of Tabqa in Syria.

The town of Tabqa is located around 40km (25 miles) west of Raqqa - ISIL's de facto capital.

Tabqa's main strategic importance however is the adjoining Tabqa Dam which spans the Euphrates River forming Lake Assad. Tabqa Dam not only provides drinking water and hydroelectric power to much of the surrounding area it also represents one of ISIL's last remaining crossing points over the Euphrates linking Raqqa with the rest of Syria.

On January 6th 2017 (6/1/17) the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) liberated Jabour Castle (Qalat Jabar) from ISIL. This sits on a peninsula on the northern shore of Lake Assad around 10km (6 miles) west of Tabqa Dam and around 50km (30 miles) west of Raqqa.

Over the night of March 21st (21/3/17) into March 22nd (22/3/17) the US-led coalition - Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) - airdropped members of the SDF along with US Special Operations Forces (SOF's) and US Marines on the southern banks of the Euphrates. They landed around 12km (7 miles) west of Tabqa.

This was the first stage of an operation that would see the SDF and CJTFOIR advance on Tabqa and Tabqa dam from the north and the south.

On March 25th (25/3/17) the northern axis entered the Tabqa Dam complex having advanced from Jabour Castle. This allowed the SDF to send engineers to inspect the dam confirming that it was structurally sound and open a spillway to release water pressure on the dam from Lake Assad.

On March 29th (29/3/17) the southern axis has managed to surround Tabqa on three sides - the fourth being surrounded by Lake Assad.

In doing this the SDF also liberated Tabqa Air Field - around 7km (4 miles) south of Tabqa - and the village of Safafah - around 1.5km (0.9 miles) east of Tabqa - along with the farms and small villages between those locations. The SDF then announced they were going to wait to give ISIL time to surrender Tabqa peacefully.

On April 15th (15/4/17) the SDF felt they had given ISIL enough time to surrender so launched an assault to liberate the town by force.

On that first day of the assault the SDF managed to liberate the Alexandria neighbourhood of Tabqa. This sits to the south-east of the town and is separated from the main town by a space of all of 200 metres/yards.

That first day also saw the SDF liberate the Ayd as-Saghir neighbourhood of Tabqa. This sits to the south-west of the town separated from the main part of the town by a distance of around 500 metres/yards.

Learning from the mistakes of the Iraqis operation in Mosul the SDF's first priority then became establishing humanitarian corridors into the main town from the Alexandria neighbourhood. This allowed civilians to escape before fighting in the main town began.

As a result the SDF spent the first four days of the operation pushing west from the Ayd as-Saghir neighbourhood to the so-called; "Three Neighbourhoods" that sit north of the Ayd as-Saghir neighbourhood. On April 19th (19/4/17) the SDF succeeded in liberating the town's hotel and communication tower complex that sits between Ayd as-Saghir and the Three Neighbourhoods.

On April 20th (20/4/17) the SDF entered the al-Wahhab neighbourhood from the Alexandria neighbourhood. The al-Wahhab neighbourhood sits at the southern most tip of the main part of Tabqa town.

By April 24th (24/4/17) the SDF had succeeded in liberating al-Wahhab neighbourhood and set about establishing humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to flee the Central neighbourhood with sits directly north of al-Wahhab neighbourhood.

On April 27th (27/4/17) the SDF advanced into the Central neighbourhood. By Saturday April 29th (29/4/17) the SDF had succeeded in liberating roughly one third of the Central neighbourhood.

However ISIL then suffered an almost complete collapse leading to the SDF being able to liberate all of the Central neighbourhood and all of the al-Qaryah neighbourhood which sits directly north of it by Sunday (30/4/17) evening.

Having liberated all of the main part of Tabqa town from ISIL the SDF spent Monday (1/5/17) liberating the the Wadi ash-Shubah farm area and the industrial/train depot area to the north-east of the al-Qaryah neighbourhood. This left ISIL in control of just the Three Neighbourhoods and the southern part of the Tabqa Dam complex.

The SDF spent Tuesday (2/5/17) trying to negotiate with ISIL to see them surrender the remaining areas of Tabqa under their control.

On Wednesday (3/5/17) the SDF received ISIL's initial response when the group attacked the village of Safafah in an attempt to send reinforcements to Tabqa from the east. By the very early hours of this morning the SDF had succeeded in repelling the ISIL assault on Safafah.

Since then the SDF have resumed negotiations with ISIL fighters who remain in Tabqa. It is being reported that with the group's attempted rescue failing those fighters have now agreed to leave Tabqa voluntarily.

However those reports have not yet been formally confirmed let alone exact details being released or ISIL's withdrawal actually taking place.

The operation to liberate Mosul - ISIL's de facto capital within Iraq - began on October 17th 2016 (17/10/16).

It is a combined operation between the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) militias. It is the ISF's role to liberate the city itself with the Peshmerga and the PMF securing the areas around the city. The entire operation is supported by CJTFOIR.

The first stage of the operation was completed with the liberation of the entire eastern side of Mosul - the so-called; "Left Bank" - on January 24th 2017 (24/1/17). Following a short and planned pause the second phase of the operation to liberate Mosul's so-called "Right Bank" on the western side of the Tigris River was launched on February 19th (19/2/17).

On February 23rd (23/2/17) the ISF entered the western side of the city itself. They did this on two axis;

The Federal Police axis entered western Mosul from the Mosul International Airport/Ghazlani Military base at the southern most tip of the city. They then advanced north towards the Old City district of the city clearing neighbourhoods as they went.

The Counter-Terrorism Force (CTF/Golden Division) axis entered the city from the al-Rayyan neighbourhood at the south-western tip of the city. They then advanced north-east towards the Old City district of Mosul clearing neighbourhoods as they went.

By March 14th (14/3/17) the Golden Division had reached the western Ramparts of the Old City liberating Mosul Railway station and the al-Moalimeen neighbourhood. This is the western most neighbourhood in a district of the city known as; "New Mosul."

The Golden Division axis then changed direction and headed north into the Hay al-Yarmuk district of the city.

Meanwhile the ISF's combined Rapid Reaction Force liberated Qadhib al-Ban neighbourhood on March 30th (30/3/17). The Qadhib al-Ban neighbourhood sits right at the north-eastern tip of the New Mosul district adjacent to the Old City district.

As of April 20th (20/4/17) the Golden Division had liberated everything from the al-Nasr neighbourhood which sits on the western outskirts of Mosul through to the al-Thawra neighbourhood which sits to the north of the Qadhib al-Ban neighbourhood. This area includes the entire Hay al-Yamuk district and the Orouba neighbourhood and Industrial area which sits directly north of Hay al-Yamuk.

On Mosul's southern axis by March 21st (21/3/17) the Federal Police had succeeded in liberating the al-Tob neighbourhood which sits directly to the south of the Old City district. They had also liberated the Corniche are that sits between the Old City district and the Tigris River between the al-Jamhuriya Bridge to the south and the Old Bridge to the north.

From there the Federal Police set about liberating the Old City district. They did this in two axis advancing north from the al-Tob neighbourhood along al-Shaziani Street while at the same time advancing west from the Corniche along Nineveh Street. In both directions the Federal Police cleared the buildings adjoining the streets as they advanced.

The Federal Police's primary objective within the Old City is the al-Nuri Mosque which sits just north of the al-Shaziani/Nineveh Street junction. As one of the place's where ISIL's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the group to be an Islamic State this seems to be where ISIL have concentrated the majority of their fighters in Mosul.

As of April 20th (20/4/17) the Federal Police had advanced to within around 40 metres/yards of the Mosque on the al-Shaziani Street axis and around within 120 metres/yards away on the Nineveh Street axis. However those axis' had started to merge as the Mosque began slowly being surrounding.

Today at its closest point the distance between the Federal Police and the Mosque has been cut of 0 metre/yards. The Federal Police have now reached the Mosque compound.

However at their furthest point the Federal Police are still around 30 metres/yards away from the Mosque compound. Therefore it may still be a few days before an assault to liberate the Mosque itself begins.

Throughout the planning it was always known that the Old City district would see the slowest and toughest fighting of the entire operation. That's because largely being built in the 8th Century the Old City is totally unsuited to modern warfare which tends to be based around armoured vehicles which can't fit down the maze of narrow streets.

The problems of the Old City have been made worse by the fact that ISIL has enjoyed largely unchallenged control of the three districts - Kalakchi,  Az Zanjili and Hay 17 Tammoz - which sit directly north of the Old City district.

ISIL have used these districts to rain artillery and rocket fire down of the Federal Police as they have tried to clear the Old City.

ISIL have also used these districts to establish factories building Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED's) which are then used to attack both the Golden Division and the Federal Police within the Old City. As the Federal Police have continued to advance within the Old City it seems that ISIL have been restricted to launching hit and run attacks from the northern districts rather than being able to sustain a fight within the Old City itself.

Today the ISF's 9th Armoured Division and combined Rapid Reaction Force have opened a third axis to the north of Mosul.

On just this first day they have already succeeded in liberating the Musaharrifah district on the outskirts of Mosul on the banks of the Tigris River. Obviously it is not my place to tell ISIL what the ISF plan to do next. However I suspect that this northern axis will soon enter the Hay 17 Tammoz district in order to advance south towards the Old City district.

Senior figures have suggested that this opening of new axis will mean that all of Mosul will be liberated within the next week. I personally think that is still slightly too optimistic.

However it is clear that the operation to liberate Mosul is now entering its final phase.

17:25 on 4/5/17 (UK date).